Easy Impressionist Art Painting Tutorial

If you love the look of impressionist art but not the price tag, paint your own! We’re going to show you how to make a seaside inspired easy impressionist painting. Copy the steps below to create a work of art that Monet and Renoir would be proud of!

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What is Impressionist Art?

Impressionism is a style of painting developed by French artists in the mid-to-late 19th century. It’s characterized by small, visible brushstrokes that create an “impression” of the form being painted. Some of the most well-known impressionist artists include Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir and Edward Degas. You can learn more about impressionist paintings on the Sotheby’s site here.

Creating Upcycled Impressionist Art

My journey into this attempt started at my local Marshall’s where I was shopping and chanced upon this piece of art which was on sale for $8. 

Well I didn’t really care for the artwork since I am not a fan of plants (being a brown thumb and all) but my eye was drawn to the frame.  I knew that if I took it home I could get my daughter who is artistic to do something with it, maybe paint something on top of it.  I sent her a text, but she rejected my idea. 

​Well, guess what?  I still bought it.  I decided that if she would not do it then I would challenge myself to see if I could create a piece of DIY impressionist art. After all it was worth the price of the canvas alone.​

When I got it home and took the cardboard edges off I saw that it was in fact plastic but that did not deter me. I forged ahead to create my own landscape impressionism painting.

​​Materials Needed for this Impressionistic Art Project:

• canvas in a frame 14″ by 18″ or you can use a plain canvas
• masking tape
• various acrylic paints
• sponge brush 
• ​small brushes

​Easy Beginner Impressionist Painting to Copy:

I taped off the frame and began working.  I ended up applying 6 coats of white acrylic paint to try and hide the Plant artwork.  And I still wasn’t able to hide those darn words.  Did I say this was going to be easy?

​As I’m not talented enough to paint a scene from memory, I searched for a photograph I liked to use as a reference image. I found the one below with beautiful shades of blue and teal.

Hah, I was going to channel by inner Monet!  All those years of Art History were finally paying off! Monet specialized in perceptions. If you look at his art you will get an impression of a landscape but if you go up close it is just a bunch of brush strokes.  Now that was something I could work with after all I cannot draw realistically to save my life.  But I can do brush strokes like a master! “wink” 

And so I taped off the canvas into three parts.  They were not exact.  Using a small stiff brush I applied blue paint here and there, making sure to cover all those offensive letters and this was the result. 

I then used a turquoise blue and worked with a sponge brush to create the sky.  I just stabbed the brush onto the canvas in short bursts. Sometimes the color got mixed up with the darker blue and the white but that is fine because I was going for a varied effect. 

​Using a brush I went back and added a bit of red to the blue, this gave me a bit of purple which you can see is prominent in the photograph. Just a hint of it to give the illusion of some clouds.​

For the pebbles I used black, white and a combination of the two, plus a hint of blue. Short, fat brush strokes did the trick here. ​

I went back and added a bit of grey to the sea to give it a bit more depth. ​

​And I was done.  I had made sure to keep the horizon straight but the pebbles didn’t need such a straight line. Oh and can you see those pesky letters?  NO!!​

When I showed it to my artist daughter she said “It turned out better than I expected”.  Now that is a compliment of the highest order coming from her!

And my other girl, the one who loves all things blue, immediately asked who would be the proud owner of this lovely impressionist painting… meaning her!  So now I’ve got a compliment and a happy daughter!​

I have to admit I had a lot of fun creating this Rotho-Monet-esque impressionistic painting! If I was less pressed for time I would have probably thought it through better and created more sea and less pebbles.

I would never have thought I’d be able to paint a piece of art like this. But breaking it down and using the reference image made all the difference. I also stuck to just a few colors which really simplified the process. You will never know what you can accomplish till you try. ​​

Taking this challenge to try new ideas was really good for me even if I was under pressure. I think that now that I have made this Impressionist art painting,  next time I will try my hand at a Rothko-esque black and white. Do you have a favorite impressionist painter? 

Additional Art Ideas for Beginners: